Poland

Synopsis

In the summer of 1967, 12-year-old Paweł, Piotr, Szymek and Elka live through the most extraordinary days of their lives. They meet a fascinating boy, gifted with unusual imagination, and full of mystery. He is Dawid Weiser. That Jewish boy, persecuted by his peers, suddenly discloses to them a world of magic and mysticism. Fascinated and now obedient to him, teenagers plunge ever deeper into his mysterious world. Weiser is planning something extraordinary. At the last stage of preparations, however, an explosion is detonated, which everybody thinks quite accidental. As a result Weiser disappears. Oddly enough, despite a thorough search and rigorous investigation, not a piece, not even a scrap of his clothes is found. To the principal participants of the events this becomes their lifelong puzzle, a cause of unconscious fears, a nightmare ...

lt is now the year 2000. Thirty years after the tragic and still unexplained event, Paweł Heller, along with his girlfriend Juliana, comes back to Poland from Germany, to the town of his childhood in Silesia. The seemingly forgotten past, however, returns with a vengeance, with all its magic force.

And, along with it, a persistent question: Who was Weiser, really? A cunning cheat, a deft magician, a clever shorty, who involved them in his strange game, only to disappear without a trace in the end? Or maybe Weiser was ... reason is helpless and dares neither suggest nor ask questions. In search of the truth Paweł frequents his fears and visits people he knew years before. Maybe they remember something essential, a detail, a scrap of information that could solve the mystery of Weiser’s disappearance?

Director's Biography

Born in Łódź 1944, Wojciech Marczewski studied History and Philosophy at Łódź University and graduated as a director from The Theatre, Television and Film School in Łódź. He works as a graphic artist, a screenwriter and a director for film and television. From 1984 on he worked for the National Film and Television School in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1992-94 he worked as Head of the Directing Department in The National Film and Television School in Great Britain. He conducted several workshops for directors, screenwriters and actors in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and Poland. He also directed several TV dramas.

Filmography:
1968 THE ANATOMY LESSON
1969 TRAVELLERS LIKE OTHER ONES
1970-1972 DEPARTURES.RETURNS
1975 EASTER
1976 WHITER THEN SNOW
1978 NIGTHMARES
1979 KEYSKEEPER
1980 SHIVERS
1991 ESCAPE FROM THE LIBERTY CINEMA
1997 TIME OF TREACHERY
2000 WEISER
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Wojciech Marczewski

Produced by: Krzysztof Zanussi, Iwona Ziulkowska

Cinematography: Krzysztof Ptak

Editing: Milenia Fiedler

Production Design: Andrzej Kowalczyk

Costume Design: Magdalena Biedrzycka

Original Score: Zbigniew Preisner

Cast: Olga Frycz (young Elka), Marek Kondrat (Paweł), Krystyna Janda (Elka), Maciej Jaszczuk (young Paweł)

Nominations and Awards

  • Feature Film Selection 2001